Burning Down the House

A Nick Hoffman / Academic Mystery Book 5 – Evil Stalks the Halls of Academe!. Welcome to the hothouse world of academia where egos bruise as easily as peaches and vendettas grow like weeds. Nick Hoffman's State University of Michigan is a place where the Borgias and the Marx Brothers would be equally at home. Heading into the Christmas season SUM is being torn apart by bizarre attempts to make it more diverse while an autocratic new provost pushes for a White Studies program and Nick faces not only a tenure battle but conflicting requests for support in a battle for department chair.. With his professional life a mix of seasonal chaos and departmental warfare Nick discovers that he’s not only attracted to the outrageously sexy Juno Dromgoole and disturbed by these disorienting new feelings in his life but also the target along with Juno of a vicious harassment campaign that escalates into stalking assault and attempted murder.. This new edition contains a foreword by Martha C. Lawrence (Murder in Scorpio).. “Lev Raphael’s lacerating wit fillets the fatted calves of academia roasts them with the hot breath of satire then serves them up in the sauciest of mysteries.” – Val McDermid. “Nick Hoffman is back relegated to the basement of his college so he won’t get into trouble. But when someone torches his mailbox Nick gets the hint that an arsonist is carrying a flame for him. As ever Lev Raphael is witty biting and on the nail when it comes to the groves and gripes of academe.” – Ian Rankin. “Lev Raphael is one of the most sophisticated mystery authors alive and his latest Burning Down The House is witty and charming.” – Cleveland Plain Dealer. “If conditions on university campuses really are as bizarre and insidiously political as depicted in novelist-critic Lev Raphael’s new Burning Down The House higher education must be at an all-time low. As the author amusingly presents it the faculty at State University of Michigan is an assortment of eccentric conniving self-promoting not to mention homicidal half-baked do-nothings.” – Los Angeles Times